In 1367 two Venetian merchants Franchesko and Domeniko Pitsigano marked the settlement and wharf Samara in their maps. In 1586 it was officially called a town and a fortress, which was built to protect Russia and secure waterways from Kazan to Astrakhan. The town was destined to become a trade centre with the East. Martial spirit of ancestors made the town the centre of two peasant rebellions in the beginning of the 18th century. The town supported Stepan Razin and Emelian Pugachev. In the vicinity of Samara you will see the well-known cliff of Stepan Razin. Sitting on the tsar throne dragged up on to the top of the cliff, he commanded his promiscuous fleet. The city was the so-called second capital of the Soviet Union during the period of 1941-1943 when Nazi troops threatened Moscow. One of the popular tourist locations in Samara is Stalin's bunker, a World War II bunker built to control military operation in the event Moscow fell to the Nazis.